Such was the dwelling until recently in constant use by all the buffalo-hunting tribes from the Saskatchewan to the Rio Grande, and for a part of the year also by the semi-sedentary agricultural tribes, such as the Ree, Pawnee, and Wichita. No other structure met so well the requirements of the nomad hunters of the plains, as no other is so easily portable and so well adapted by its shape to withstand the stormy winds of a timber-less region. This is shown by the fact that it has furnished the model for the Sibley tent. It is still in use by all the plains tribes, with no change from former methods of construction excepting in the substitution of canvas for buffalo hides and in the general inferiority of ornamentation and workmanship.
Of the Kiowa Apache delegation the most prominent member was the hereditary chief, White-man, now nearly seventy years of age, a kindly, dignified gentleman, who has twice represented his people at Washington. In spite of years he sits his horse as firmly and bears his lance as steadily as the youngest of his warriors. In former days he was one of the two war leaders deemed worthy to carry the beaver-skin staff which pledged them never to avoid a danger or turn aside from the enemy. Another notable man is the captive, Big-whip, whose proper name is Pablino Diaz, and who jokingly claims kinship with the distinguished president of the sister republic. He is one of a considerable number of captives still living among these southern tribes, which formerly made Mexico and the Texas frontier their foraging grounds. Unlike most of these unfortunates, Pablino retains the knowledge of his name and his Spanish language, and remembers vividly how he was taken, when about eight years of age, in a sudden dash by the Apache upon the town of Parral in Chihuahua.
With some modification of detail the description of the Kiowa Apache will fit the other plains tribes represented at the congress: the Dakota, Assiniboin, Crows, and Blackfeet of the north; the Omaha, Ponka, and Oto of the central region; and the Cheyenne and Arapaho of the south. With the exception of the
